Burning Bridges
by Baculities
Summary: Ranma snaps and the only witness is Nabiki. When Ranma leaves for good, she is left having to explain what happened. Meanwhile Ranma adapts to his new world.
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1 : Burning Bridges

Authors Note/ Disclaimer: This will eventually be a crossover with the Gundam Wing universe. Characters and settings belonging to the creators of GW and Ranma ½ are not mine, any characters that I create are mine. This fic is listed as R for safety purposes since violence and reference to sex and rape will be present. Certain amounts of OOCness will be present. Constructive criticism is welcome especially as this is my first fic and as I have no beta, all mistakes are mine, flames will be used to blow my nose.

Part 1

"You sold him WHAT?!"

Ranma's sream of rage was heard both through out the Tendo home and for blocks in every direction, yet the only people who heard what he said after his first piercing cry were the two men with him in the dojo and Nabiki Tendo courtesy of the microphones she had planted throughout the room in question after Ranma had first arrived.

"Old Man, yer dead."

The nearly inaudible words were spoken in a voice so cold that Nabiki, holed up in her room on the other side of the house, shivered and said thanks that Ranma had never spoken to her in such a manner and decided she definitely did not want to go anywhere near the dojo. However, she did take the time to call Auntie Nodoka. Then she returned to listening to what was happening in the dojo. She heard Genma's babbling as he tried to talk Ranma out of killing him overlain by the sounds of combat. Her eyes widened as Ranma spoke again, his voice even colder than before.

"Say yer prayers old man. I told what I'd do the next time ya tried to sell me to someone to fuck. Or did ya forget what I told ya after the last time ya sold me? Maybe I should remind ya!" Sounds of scuffling and thumps, bumps, crunches, and impacts told a tale of combat, ending when Genma yelled "Get off me boy!" A cold, cruel chuckle was the only acknowledgement he received that Ranma had heard him.

"Remember when I beat ya for the first time when ya tried ta deliver me ta another nasty old man? I told ya if ya ever sold me again like that I'd begin by breaking yer arms and legs, followed by yer hands and feet."

A series of wet cracks accompanied by howls of pain echoed through the head set Nabiki wore as she cringed.

Once the howls had subsided into sobs and gasps, the cold dead voice continued. "Do you remember what came next? Ah, ya don't. Maybe this'll remind ya." The sound of tearing cloth sounded followed by a shriek of pain echoed in the dojo.

"It hurts don't it ya son of a bitch. I was only nine years old the first time ya sold me. D'ya remember? I do. Ya sold me to a couple a soldiers who took turns with me for damn near two hours. Before they were done, I was beaten and tore up so bad that I almost bled to death. Woulda too if that old man hadn't a found me, and taken me to the hospital."

By this time Nabiki's face was a nice light shade of green, her imagination was running wild and she was glad that there was no one else in the house. She kept listening and recording, and hoped that Ranma's mother would get to the dojo soon, if nothing else, to get her husband to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Ranma continued speaking over the background noise of his father's cries and the retching of the guest. "I'm not that little kid any more that ya can beat up, knock out and deliver to some guy in exchange for booze money, Pops. Now if you try to pull that trick, I can defend my self." His laughter rang out chillingly, and less than sane. "And then some. Ranma's voice dropped to a whisper barely detectable by Nabiki's eavesdropping equipment, "Do remember the last thing I said I'd do old man? You do? Good."

The noise that followed was something Nabiki could find no words to describe when she spoke to the police later. A wet tearing sound mingling with screams of pain that were suddenly muffled and an 'oh dear god' from the stranger followed by a thud that sounded remarkably like someone hitting the floor in a dead faint.

"There, that's where they belong. Now there's no chance ya'll ever have another kid to torture and destroy." These words and the accompanying image drove Nabiki into unconsciousness.

When she awoke stretched out on her bed and covered by a blanket, Nabiki spoke aloud to herself. "What a weird dream. I wonder why I would dream of Ranma doing such a thing to his father."

"Weren't no dream.", came the unexpected reply.

Nabiki shrieked in surprise and fear, shooting up and staring at the frighteningly normal looking boy sitting in her window. "R-R-Ranma?" She stammered, wide eyed and panicky.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I won't hurt ya." Ranma snorted at her disbelieving expression and turned away to look out the window. "Ya ain't done nothin' ta deserve that kinda treatment. Pops now, he done enough ta me ta deserve that and more. Son of a bitch sold' me ta men ta fuck from the time I turned nine till I was fourteen and got good enough that he couldn't knock me out and tie me up so I wouldn't run away or hurt the customers. Bastard sold me ev'ry chance he had. Didn't care how bad I got hurt, next day soon's he'd gotten over his hangover he'd start beating on me again, all in the name of trainin'."

Nabiki stared at the boy she thought she knew in shock at what she'd learned about him in what had been, confirmed by a glance at her alarm clock, only the last three hours.

Ranma turned back to look at her. " Don't worry bout the dojo, I cleaned up the mess after the ambulance took pops to the hospital and the cops left." He started chewing nervously on his lip, as he gazed at her shocked face.

"Nabiki? Yo, Nabiki! You there?" When she finally nodded, still in shock, he relaxed slightly, hopped off the window sill and walked towards her holding a book with a letter in it and a packet of envelopes he'd pulled from somewhere in his shirt. "Nabiki, would you make sure my mom gets the book and the letter? I don't care if you read them or what you do with what's in them." Ranma relaxed further as Nabiki nodded and held what he'd given her as if the items were a ticking bomb, watching as he walked back to the window, getting ready to jump out.

Ranma stopped just as he was about to jump and turned back to look at Nabiki one last time. "There's a letter for you there too, Nabiki. I left somethin' for everyone, and I hope ya'll see they get what I left 'em, 'cause I'm leavin' for good this time. Gonna use the Naban mirror to go somewhere no one'll ever find me. Ain't never comin' back here if I can help it. Though, I gotta say, even though you got me real mad at times, of all the girls I been engaged to, yer the only one I woulda married willingly. Bye Nabiki."

Then he was gone, as if he had never existed. The only evidence of his presence the packet of letters and the small book he had left with Nabiki.

Part 2

Ranma watched from the roof of a nearby house as the paramedics loaded the mass of flesh normally known as Genma Saotome into the Ambulance and drove away, followed by a police car containing his mother and the man Genma had sold him to. He remained on the roof as he watched the police run their routine of photographing and sampling the 'crime scene' as he could hear them calling it. He later found it amusing that they had spent almost two hours in the dojo and talking to neighbors, yet no one had found Nabiki passed out in her room, he had thought for sure that the cops at least would have searched the rest of the house more thoroughly. At the time he was more concerned that no one had found out what she'd recorded that night.

As the street once again became dark and still, Ranma slipped back into the house through Nabiki's window to wait for her to wake up. He'd gone up to check on her as soon as he'd left the dojo, and finding her slumped over her recording equipment, had moved to her bed, covered her with a blanket, and turned off her light. He'd slipped back out of her room just as his mother walked into the dojo and screamed. He listened as she ran through the house to reach the telephone in the kitchen, then moved up to the roof as soon as she hung up on the hospital and called the cops.

It took more than two and a half hours before the Tendo Dojo was once again quiet and dark. Ranma spent the time writing letters to various people to leave with Nabiki. Once the cops had left, Ranma went down and spent a few minutes cleaning up the dojo. When that was done, he first wint up to the roof and got the Naban mirror from the hidden pocket heed made in the roof while repairing one of the many 'skylights' he'd madewent to the guest room he had shared with Genma, packed all the things he planned to take with him, and retrieved his money from it's hiding place behind a tile in the bathroom.

When he was ready to leave, Ranma left his pack on the roof outside of Nabiki's window and sat on the sill, waiting for her to wake up. After a bit, he heard her breathing change signaling her shift to consciousness. As her bedside lamp clicked on Ranma heard her mutter, "What a weird dream. I wonder why I would dream of Ranma doing such a thing to his father." He watched her jump then turn scared eyes in his direction and stammer his name when he told her it hadn't been a dream. He did his best to reassure her, going so far as to tell her something he'd never told anyone before, that his father has whored him out for drinking money. Her shock was almost tangible, followed by a narrowing of the eyes that he knew from experience meant that she was furious. Not that she ever resorted to Akane's methods, her own style of revenge was infinitely more subtle and considerably more painful in the long run. Genma was in for major trouble.

Once he'd given her his journal and the letters, he went to leave. Just before jumping out the window and grabbing his pack, he told her another of his most closely guarded secrets. She was the one he'd wanted, not Akane. He didn't need to add that he'd hidden it to protect her, he could see the pieces click together in her mind. Besides, it was in the letter he'd written her.

With a last glance at the only person he'd ever had a serious interest in, Ranma jumped out the window, grabbed his pack and hit the ground running. He kept running until he was out of Tokyo, at which point he found himself a room at an inn to sleep in. It was also a place to mourn burned bridges.

Epilogue

For Kasumi it began like every other morning. Wake up at 5 am, scrub down and then soak in a nice hot bath for half an hour, get dressed then begin breakfast and lunch preparations at a quarter to six so that breakfast would be ready to serve at 7:30 and bentos would be ready for Nabiki, Ranma, and Akane to take to school.

The first surprise of the morning was that Ranma didn't fly out of the guest room window

At 6:30 to land in the Koi pond, signaling the beginning of the Saotome morning sparring session. It was a little odd, but not that strange. Saotome-san was known to sleep in occasionally, which meant that Akane would be the one to wake Ranma up in time for breakfast, usually done by tipping a pail of water over him.

Kasumi sighed and shook her head as she thought about the way her youngest sister and her fiancé treated each other. If things kept going the way they had been, then she was fairly certain that one or the other of them, was going to end up very badly hurt or possibly killed. Akane's temper was getting worse, as was her treatment of Ranma. While he did have a tendency to insult Akane with out thinking, Kasumi could place only a small portion of the blame for the deterioration of the relationship he had with he little sister.

If anyone asked her, the real problems in the relationship were the interference of her father, Saotome-san, the other fiancées, and Ranma's rivals, but even those were relatively minor difficulties. The most damaging thing was Akane's treatment of Ranma, Her tendency to not only leap to conclusions, but also her habit of always blaming him for any conflict he was involved in, and always assuming the worst about him. Of course the fact that she was terribly jealous of any time he spent with either Ukyo of Shampoo, voluntarily or not, paired with her refusal to admit even to herself that she cared about Ranma only made things worse.

Kasumi could remember the way Ranma used to look at Akane, during the first year of the engagement; she could also remember when the spark she saw in his eyes when he looked at Akane disappeared. She found it sad that Akane herself had ruined any hope she'd ever had of marrying Ranma. Poor girl.

Kasumi sang to herself softly as she prepared the lunch boxes for her sisters and Ranma while keeping an eye on breakfast as it cooked. She almost dropped the bentos in surprise when she turned around and found Nabiki watching her from the doorway between the kitchen and the rest of the house. Nabiki looked awful, as if she hadn't slept much, and her eyes were red. The weak smile Nabiki sent her way only alarmed her more, she hadn't seen her little sister with that expression since their mother's funeral.

"Nabiki, what's wrong?" She asked as she placed the bentos on the counter and moved to comfort her sister.

"Don't bother making a bento for Ranma. He's gone.", was the only reply she got before Nabiki started silently crying on her shoulder.

"Gone? Ranma's gone? What about Saotome-san? Did they go on a training trip?" She asked while maneuvering her sister onto the bench by the kitchen table next to her. Nabiki's tears ran faster and she shook her head. Kasumi's eyes widened, but she kept silent until the girl she had her arm wrapped around had calmed down.

"No." Nabiki croaked, "He's gone for good. He left two days ago after he put the damned panda in the hospital." She chuckled weakly. "It's a good thing I stayed behind while you, Akane, and Father went to visit mom's parents. Otherwise we'd have been coming home to a real mess."

Kasumi was shocked. Ranma hurt someone badly enough that they needed to go to the hospital? And, his own father? "What did Saotome-san do?" she asked.

Tears formed once again in Nabiki's eyes. "He sold Ranma to a man he met at the bar as a sex toy. From what I overheard and from what I've read, it wasn't the first time he'd sold Ranma to some dirty old man. In fact the bastard did it for years, until Ranma got big enough and strong enough to stop him." Nabiki turned her head to glare at her older sister as she stared at her in shock. "He deserved it. For what he did to Ranma, the baka panda deserved what happened to him." As Nabiki got up and moved away towards the bathroom, Kasumi heard her mutter "It's not like Ranma didn't warn the moron."

Kasumi sat at the kitchen table, shocked, until the sound of a pot boiling over brought her attention back to the present. She rushed to the stove, to rescue breakfast, wondering all the while, just what would happen next, and making plans to deal with the inevitable mess Ranma's leaving would create.

Not that she blamed him.

AN: After due thought, I decided to take DalSharDar's advice and condense some things into chapters under the title Burning Bridges instead of separate stories. Otherwise, this will be a series of really short stories.

Thanks for all the Reviews!


	2. Collapsing Dreams 1

Collapsing Dreams, part one

AN/Disclaimer: none of the characters of Ranma ½ or GW are mine, I'm just borrowing them to play with. Out of Character warning and mush alert.

##### time break or shift in point of view.

Prologue

Approximately two weeks after Ranma's disappearance

Days later, after the dust had settled and the worst of the fights over who was at fault for Ranma's disappearance had tapered off, Nabiki admitted, if only to herself, that she could have handled things better. If she had been thinking at all, she would have told Cologne what was happening before the meeting so she was prepared to put a leash on Shampoo. Also she should have waited to tell the Kuno's that Ranma and the pigtailed girl were gone. Not to mention the fact that she should have given everyone the details of why Ranma left when he did before she gave them the letters and told them he'd left for good. While Genma Saotome might not have survived the wrath of his son's fiancees, or more dangerous still, his wife's fury, she wouldn't have ended up in the hospital after getting caught between Akane and Kodachi, one of whom was to too enraged to be careful of bystanders, while the other didn't care who she hurt as long as she got what she wanted.

But most important of all, if she had been using her brain as all she would have held the meeting somewhere far away from fragile, easily broken objects such as trees, buildings, Nerima prefecture… An isolated desert filled with nothing but sand came to mind as an appropriate locale for telling the Nerima wrecking crew that Ranma had left. As it was, she wasn't sure if the Dojo could be made livable again while the garden was a total write off. Much the same could be said for many of the homes surrounding the Dojo as well as for many of the buildings around the Nekohaten, Uchans, and Furinkin Highschool.

Although she missed him, Nabiki was damn glad that Ranma hadn't been involved in the latest round of fights. While he may have been able to finish things sooner, this way, the Tendo's were not financially responsible for most of the damage done during the fights that followed her announcement. Which in turn meant that she didn't have to worry about finding the money to pay for repairs to the buildings damaged during said fights. It helped that Akane had been knocked out of the fights and put on the hospital before she could do any real damage to the scenery. For once, all the bills for repairs were going to the Amazons, Ukyo, and the Kuno's. Life was good.

Still, Nabiki would have been willing to take on the responsibility for the bills if it meant that Ranma would come back. Even if he really was the idiot everyone, even she, assumed he was.

Nabiki did hope that Ranma was happier, or at least less miserable, wherever he was…

Part 1

Nabiki could feel Kasumi's startled gaze boring into the back of her head as she left the kitchen. One person down, everyone else would learn that Ranma had left when she told them at the meeting she had arranged for after breakfast when she gave them the letters Ranma had left with her. Most were NOT going to be happy about Ranma's departure, and she hoped none of them decided to take their anger out on the messenger. As she meandered her way to her bedroom to fetch the things she would need for the meeting, Nabiki wished for a flack jacket and a bomb shelter.

Still shocked, but quickly becoming more and more nervous, Kasumi peeked out at the dining table to see the unexpected presence of Ryouga as P-chan at the table with her father and sisters and Saotome-san. As she began moving things out of the kitchen, Kasumi shivered as she contemplated how the people eating her food were going to react to Nabiki's announcement of Ranma's permanent disappearance. Sitting down to eat, she wondered just when Nabiki would break the news.

Breakfast continued as normal with Genma stealing food off everyone's plates, her father reading the news paper, Nabiki tapping away on her calculator and writing down the results, and Akane feeding an ecstatic transformed Ryouga while fuming about Ranma's absence on a supposed training trip. Kasumi shivered as she remembered Akane's rampage the night before when she learned that Ranma wasn't at the dojo. She was positive that he was off doing perverted things with either Shampoo of Ukyo, and nothing Nabiki said otherwise seemed to penetrate her rage.

Kasumi knew exactly what Akane's reaction would be to Ranma's leaving and she was seriously thinking about going to visit her mother's sister until all the commotion died down. So deeply in thought was she, Kasumi nearly missed Nabiki telling Akane to sit back down because neither of them would be going to school today. When asked why, Nabiki responded that they had more important things to do, and that the rest of Ranma's fiancées as well as Elder Cologne, Mousse, and his mother Nodoka would be coming over in about an hour.

Upon hearing this Kasumi jumped up and began clearing the table, intent of making sure everything breakable in the main rooms of the house was safely put away where the inevitable fights couldn't harm them.

Watching as Kasumi's eyes widened in near panic at the idea of the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew learning of Ranma's leaving here at the dojo, Nabiki knew she wasn't the only one who recognized the probable effects of Ranma's disappearance. She acknowledged that this might not be the best way to do things, but, too late now. Instead of worrying about it, after everyone had left the dining room, Nabiki began helping Kasumi clear the table and unobtrusively move breakable valuables into the basement, the only place the fighting probably wouldn't go. She did raise an eyebrow when Kasumi began moving the dishes and kitchen ware, but just shrugged and kept going.

Author's Note: I'd like to apologize for taking so long with this chapter, but as you know, things happen…

In any case, I've decided to post things at convenient breaks in each chapter/story. However, once each section is complete, I'm going to consolidate it into one or two chapters so that I don't end up with a whole bunch of little chapters, but also so you don't have to wait for me to finish the entire thing before posing it.

BTW, remember, this is AU and people might be out of character.


	3. Collapsing Dreams 2

AN: The characters don't belong to me sadly. Now to answer questions, ok first, Genma is not healed at the beginning of part one, he got kicked out of the hospital. So in fact he is trying to steal food with his hands and arms in partial casts. Sorry, I didn't make that clear. Second, I'm not really sure where this incarnation of Genma came from, he showed up one day when I was bored out of my mind at work, though it might have something to do with the fact that he has sold Ranma off to do just about everything else.

Yes the way I jump about in time is a bit confusing, so here's a short synopsis. Ranma leaves, four days later, Genma is kicked out of the hospital and the Tendos return to the Dojo. Ranma's letters are handed out after breakfast the next morning, and the fights begin.

Collapsing Dreams, part 2

Once every one had arrived and Nabiki had 'convinced' a sulking Akane to leave her room and join the others down stairs, Nabiki decided to move the meeting out into the garden. With that accomplished, all the while refusing to answer questions regarding Ranma's current location, she began handing out the letters Ranma had left her. Naturally she asked that they all wait to open and read them until she was done, but of course, spoiled little princess Akane did whatever the hell she wanted and began reading immediately. Which meant that the rest of the wrecking crew just had to follow suit. The only one who actually did what Nabiki asked was Auntie Nodoka.

Nabiki had read the letters before giving them out, just as Ranma knew she would and so she was not surprised when Akane began growling and turning red fairly quickly. Most of the others seemed to be getting angry as well. Only Cologne, Happosai, and Auntie Nodoka remained outwardly calm while reading, though Ranma's mother did seem to be significantly paler and more rigid since she started reading the letter left her by her son. Seeing her reaction and knowing the contents of the letter, Nabiki figured that Genma Saotome had better run as fast as he could with his limbs still encased in plaster if he wished to keep his head attached to his body.

Amazingly, most of the wrecking crew finished their letters at the same time. After a few seconds of apoplectic silence Akane charged Shampoo, screaming about perverted boys. Shampoo, red with rage, knocked her aside and charged Genma Saotome, who was trying to sneak out of the garden, with intent to kill. Mousse, managed to get in her way long enough to trip her while he ecstatically hugged a shrub, declared his love for Shampoo and his joy at Ranma's permanent absence. Shampoo fell into the middle of the fight between Ukyo and Kodachi. Dismissing Kodachi as a serious threat, she in turn tripped the Black Rose, and focused on beating the fiancée in front of her into a bloody pulp.

Meanwhile, Kuno began a gloating speech declaring that the cowardly, evil sorcerer Saotome had finally fled the overawing might of the Blue Thunder of Furinken High, and that his loves the fierce tigress Akane Tendo, and the pigtailed goddess would now be his. He was interrupted by a mallet wielded by the furious Akane Tendo as she ran past sending him flying high over the streets of Nerima heading west towards Tokyo harbor, his longest flight yet.

While the children 'played', and Soun Tendo cried about the schools never being joined, Genma was being hauled back into the garden by a disgusted Master Happosai to face the wrath of his wife, Elder Cologne, and Kasumi Tendo. Genma immediately began to beg and plead with the angry women, trying to convince them that he was innocent of wrongdoing. When that didn't work, he tried to use his remaining injuries from Ranma's attack to convince his wife not to kill him. At that point, Happosai tapped the pressure points needed to render his despicable student silent and immobile. Then the discussion about what to do with and to Genma Saotome began. The argument lasted nearly two hours as ideas regarding punishment, torture, and death flew back and forth, while the participants ducked the flying bodies and debris of the fight between the younger members of the wrecking crew continued next to them.

Kasumi suggested that since Ranma had already done so much damage, that they lock Genma in panda form and sell him to the worst zoo they could find, someplace he would be miserable for the rest of his life. This suggestion was vetoed immediately as being too mild a punishment for what Genma had done to Ranma since he first left Tokyo to train Ranma. Her next suggestion consisted of turning his hide into a rug while he was still alive, something that got surprised looks from the others and a wide eyed look of terror from Genma that became permanent during the rest of the discussion.

Cologne suggested that they remove the organs which made him male and roasted them over a slow fire forcing Genma to watch as he bled to death. Happosai seemed to think this was a good idea, until Nabiki pointed out that Ranma had already removed the anatomy in question once already and that the doctors had only been able to reattach part of it. That stalled the discussion until Happosai suggested that they feed him to sharks while still alive. Cologne countered with throwing him into a pit of starving cats big enough to make sure he didn't survive the experience. Even Kasumi liked that idea, but Nodoka mentioned the Seppku contract and insisted that Genma at least follow its terms.

When the others looked disappointed, she smirked and commented that once Genma had cut himself open, she would be satisfied and they could then do what every they wanted with him. That led to a whole new set of ideas on the parts of Cologne and Happosai. Kasumi looked a bit ill at the idea of Genma cutting himself open and only got greener as the ideas got increasingly _interesting,_ until that is, Cologne winked at her, nodded at Genma and smirked. Kasumi's color immediately returned as she struggled not to giggle. The devious old pair were trying to scare him to death, and it seems they were succeeding if the yellow stains on the from of Genma's gi, and the awful smell coming from his direction were any indication.

Her choked giggles turned into outright laughter as Genma's eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted when Cologne suggested that they tie Genma to a spit and roast him until his clothes burned off, then force him to commit seppku, followed by tying him up and throwing him into a deep pit of starving cats to be eaten alive. When Genma finally landed in the dirt a stinking sodden mess, even Nodoka had to chuckle. Then the real discussion began. It was eventually decided that Genma would be forced to commit seppku and left to die from blood loss. Removing his head once he had cut himself open, was deemed too merciful after what he had done to Ranma.

Feeling partially responsible for Genma's stupidity, Happosai agreed to stay and make sure no one rescued Genma before he died. He also promised to make sure that Soun was in no shape to attempt to rescue his friend Genma. Since Nodoka had to be present to witness her husbands 'honorable' death, Cologne, Nabiki, and Kasumi were nominated to keep the Nerima Wrecking Crew occupied so they would not interfere with justice.

The fighting continued for weeks.

Fortunately, things had calmed down somewhat by the end of the first week. Ryoga had disappeared, Pantyhose Taro had come and gone, Ukyo had returned to her shop full time and stopped fighting, and Mousse had been 'convinced' by Cologne to stay out of it. The fact that he was concussed and seeing triple after he latched onto Akane and declared his love, thinking it was Shampoo, might have had an impact. Since four of the wrecking crew were out of the fights, Kasumi brought the dishes back out of the cellar so no one had to eat off of paper plates.

By the end of the second week, Kuno was in no shape to attack anyone, and the only ones still actively attacking others were Akane, Shampoo, and the Black Rose, Kodachi Kuno. Luckily for everyone else, once Genma poisoned himself with Akane's cooking before Nodoka could force him to commit seppku, the three girls mostly focused their attacks on each other with the occasional foray against Ukyo and Kuno. The girls continued to fight frequently for weeks, nothing anyone did convinced them to stop until Cologne took charge of the situation.

Akane refused to be reasoned with, insisting that all the blame lay with Ranma and the other fiancées and that she had done nothing Ranma hadn't deserved. She had become even more angry and violent since Ranma's departure, attacking with little to no provocation other than the presence of the individual attacked, and her cooking had gotten even worse, impossible as that may have seemed.

Cologne's remedy for Akane's behavior was simple. She and Happosai force fed Akane her own food, laced with some of Cologne's herbs, along with daily recitations of the coroner's report on Genma citing poisoned food as his cause of death, and Ranma's letter to her. They also took turns smacking her with a mallet until her delusions crumbled and she was forced to admit that not only was she a rotten cook, but also that her abuse had played a major role in forcing Ranma to leave.

Happosai's manner of containing Kodachi Kuno was even simpler. It involved a strip search, a reinforced strait jacket, and a one way trip to the psych ward at Tokyo General accompanied by her brother in a matching jacket. Both eventually ended up in an expensive private facility.

By the time the easily convinced ones was dealt with, three more weeks had gone by, and Ranma had been gone from Nerima for almost six weeks. The Nekohaten and it's clientele base was much the worse for the wear, and Shampoo was as delusional and obsessive as ever. Even Cologne had to admit the girl had gone too far when she started trying to kill Akane, convinced that if she was gone, Ranma would magically reappear declaring his love for her. Apparently nothing in her letter from Ranma regarding her own role in driving him away from Nerima had registered.

Eventually, after many attempts to convince the obsessed girl that Ranma would not be coming back to her ever, no matter what she did. Cologne was forced to return to China with the girl drugged to keep her calm and tractable until they reached the village and other measures could be used to get through to the delusional girl. Rather than return to China, Mousse remained in Nerima and reopened the Nekohaten under a different name in partnership with Kasumi Tendo. Nabiki headed off to university while Akane continued to fight off the hentai horde every morning at Furinken Highschool.

After her husband's suicide by poison, Nodoka Saotome retired to a life of contemplation and prayer. Soun Tendo became a certified alcoholic for a short time until Master Happosai returned to Tokyo and whipped him back into shape. As a result, the dojo reopened, and Soun began teaching again. Happosai took over Akane's training himself much to her chagrin. However, working with the perverted grandmaster of Anything Goes provided her with many opportunities to practice her fledgeling self control and perfect anger management techniques.

All in all, things quieted down in Nerima and life became almost boring. Still, occasionally, the fragments of dreams that collapsed after Ranma left continued to haunt the remaining members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew.

AN: I'm very sorry that it took me so long to get this section of ch 2 out. Writer's block is a royal pain. In any case Decisions will be the last chapter in this fic, what happens to Ranma after he uses the mirror will be documented in a new fic, Demon's Angel which I will be posting un the Gundam Wing AC section of 

Thanks for all the reviews!


	4. Decisions

Disclaimer: If Ranma ½ belonged to me, I wouldn't be broke.

Decisions

Ranma awoke confused and wary. He relaxed a bit as he realized he wasn't in the guest room at the Tendo dojo, or with either of other his fiancées; the room was far to western for it to belong to either Ukyo or Shampoo. He tensed again as a memory of Kodachi Kuno flashed into his head. This couldn't be her room, could it…? Ranma shot up to a sitting position, scanning the room for the minutest hint of his stalker or her brother.

Nothing. Ranma collapsed back onto the pillow in relief. After savoring the quiet for a few minutes, he started trying to figure out just where he was. Questions filled his head. Where was he, how did he get here, and more importantly, why was he here and not at the Tendo's? Was he alone? What time was it? A glance out the window and the rumbling of his stomach told him that it was well after dawn, though not yet noon, and a survey of the room and a quick examination of surrounding Ki signatures reassured him that there was no one he knew nearby.

Two questions answered, Ranma turned his attention to the third. Why WAS he here? His brow furrowed in puzzlement, Ranma's eyes searched the small white walled western style bedroom for clues. Once again his eye fell upon his over stuffed pack. As he gazed in confusion at the only object in the room with any connection to his life, memories began to return as flashes of feeling, sound and sight.

Feelings of betrayal and great anger, accompanied by a flash of fear and the urge to throw up. The look of fear on his fathers face as he stalked towards him as he tried to force Ranma to do what he wanted, calling it a matter of honor. His own cold voice telling the damned panda that he was dead. Cruel laughter as he beat his father into a bloody pulp, crushed what marked him as male, and shoved the handle of the broom Akane had left in the dojo up his father's back passage, making him screech in agony. The face of the man his father had sold him to as he scurried for the door only to be sent screaming into the sky over Nerima when Ranma pulled one of Akane's mallets out of subspace and hit him as hard as he could in the balls. Stuffing everything he owned into his pack and fleeing to a nearby spot on a roof, where he could see the dojo, but no one would see him, writing letters and watching the circus as the ambulance and the police came to the dojo then left. Jumping into Nabiki's window, giving her things to give to the others and telling her that even though she was a mercenary bitch and a royal pain in the ass he still liked her. Retrieving the remains of the Naban Mirror along with what little cash he had, and finally, leaving Nerima, running until he found a small western style hotel well away from Tokyo. His vow to go somewhere no one he knew would ever find him again.

As the flood of memories slowed, Ranma tried to calm his queasy stomach. He couldn't believe he'd done that to Pops, sure he deserved something, but not that. He wondered what his mother would do to Pops after reading his journal and the letter he left her detailing everything Pops had done to him on that ten year training trip, if she'd evoke the seppku contract, and if she would eventually forgive him for leaving.

But really, it didn't matter all that much, he was never going back.

After a quick trip to the bathroom Ranma sat down to count his money and figure out just what resources he had to work with. The first thing he did was take an inventory of his pack. He wasn't really sure what all he had grabbed and put in it last night, so now seemed a good time to figure out what he had. Apparently he had grabbed a weeks worth of boxers and socks, four shirts, two pairs of black pants with ankle ties, and a pair of jeans. More clothes than he'd ever had traveling with Pops. Soap, shampoo, deodorant, two plastic razors, a comb, extra hair ties, his bed roll, pain killers, bandages, and disinfectant. Ranma grimaced, no needle and thread, nothing to cook and eat with, and no (shudder) tampons or pads. Great, now he had to go out and buy those. At least he could do it as a girl, he didn't think he could do it as a guy.

He stirred the almost pitifully small pile of yen he'd have left after he paid for the hotel room, and wondered why he had grabbed some of the things he had. Things like his school books and the weapons he'd collected, like the wooden sword he'd taken from Kuno. In any case, he should probably keep them, who knew where the mirror was going to send him. And besides, despite what Pops said and the amount of time he'd spent asleep in class, he'd always kinda liked learning things other than martial arts.

In the end, he packed everything back into his pack, paid for his room and left the hotel traveling away from Tokyo. As he walked he thought about trying to control where the Naban mirror would take him. He didn't want to end up somewhere where he'd be miserable, or where he couldn't find someway other than stealing to keep himself fed and housed. In the end, he decided to ask for just that, somewhere no one he knew would ever find him, but with people and where he could take care of himself and maybe be happy.

Ranma traveled for a week, looking for a spot where no one would notice him disappear or find the mirror. Then he set up camp in the cave he found, and spent one last night in the world he had been born in. In the morning he packed his bag and put it on his back after pulling out the Naban mirror. Then he used Happosai's onion trick to make his eyes water and asked the mirror to take him to a place where no one he knew could find him and where he had a chance to be happy. As tears hit its surface, the mirror flashed, his image began to spin, and his vision began to darken. He could feel himself being pulled into the mirror when an unexpected crackling came to his ears and he began to feel nauseous. Something was wrong.

His eyes so blurry he couldn't see more than colorful smears Ranma felt his head hit something hard and the word turned dark.

AN: remember, this is an Alternate Universe fic, and it's continuation will be a crossover as well. Yes, Ranma is out of character and will likely remain so. Review are always appreciated, and constructive criticism is useful. Flames will be used to blow my nose.


	5. Epilogue

Disclaimer : remember, any characters you recognize aren't mine.

Burning Bridges

Epilogue

"Sister Helen! Sister Helen! Come quick!" The six year old's shrill voice cut short her meditations like hacking the end of off a loaf of bread. She sighed and rose to her feet while tucking away her rosary.

"Sister Helen!" the sound of small feet raced towards her as the owner of the voice came barreling around the corner, barely missing her as the child spotted her and tried to stop.

Wearily she responded to the loudest child in the orphanage. "Jaime, how many times do I have to tell you not to run or shout in the church? Go sit still in the corner and say one rosary of prayers as your punishment after you tell what is wrong."

Only slightly abashed the young boy bounced on his toes as he reported. "Sister, Father says to hurry! He found a guy knocked out on the steps a the church! He said ta bring hot water an' bandages an' the first aid kit! I seed 'im! He got blood on the steps!"

Helen was forced to interrupt the child's excited chatter. "Jaime, calm down. Now where did Father Maxwell take the fellow he found?"

"He moved 'im inta the hall Sister! He sent Ami ta get an old paper ta keep blood offa the floor!" still bouncing the small child continued to chatter at her until Helen told him, quite strictly, to calm down, sit quietly in the corner and say his rosary. Then she left, moving as quickly as she dared to fetch the items Father Maxwell needed to tend the injured stranger.

As she neared the door, hands full with the requested items, she got her first glimpse of the man Father Maxwell had rescued. Why, he was little more than a child! The young man couldn't have been more than fifteen of sixteen years old, and he looked so innocent. It was no wonder the Father had decided to help him.

The first thing she did after depositing her load of medical supplies next to the Father was to calm down the audience of children crowded into the hall. "Alright children, quite down and move back, don't crowd so close that Father Maxwell can't help the poor boy." As the children moved back, still whispering to one another, she saw the amount of blood matting the boy's hair and puddling on the papers under his head and wondered if he might not need more help than they could provide. "Father, do you think we should call a doctor?" she asked.

"No need," was the deep voiced reply, "head wounds tend to bleed profusely even when the damage is relatively minor like this." Father Maxwell seemed to be somewhat amused by all the attention their impromptu guest was gaining. "He only managed to split open his scalp and give himself a concussion. He didn't crack is skull or damage himself elsewhere, but I don't envy him the headache he will have when he wakes up. Sister, why don't you prepare an extra pallet in the boy's dorm for this young man when he wakes up." As the deep vaguely amused voice tapered off, the owner's attention shifting fully to the task at hand, Sister Helen wondered once again what a Priest of his abilities was doing in the slums of L2.

AN: this is the end of 'Burning Bridges', the story will continue in 'Demon's Angel' as soon as I get something written that I'm willing to post. And to the people who have reviewed this story and especially those who made helpful suggestions and brought irregularities to my attention, you know who you are, thank you.


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